Full Circle
by LadyRin23
Summary: My mother was in rehab and my father was incarcerated so where did that leave me? A modern day fic about a teen's struggle to make it through his junior year of high school.
1. Chapter 1

**_Full Circle_**

by LadyRin23

**Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi**

Chapter 1 - Avoidance

Have you ever wondered why one thing leads to another and then suddenly you find your life spiraling out of control? We were the family that everyone wanted to be, at least on the outside. My mother was a housewife married to a CEO and I of course was the privileged only child. It all looked so easy. But it never was. What everyone thought they saw, was a lie and I knew it all too well. My parents fought like cats and dogs and I listened to it every night. The only peace I ever got was when my father wouldn't return on some evenings but even that came with the sobs of my mother. It seemed like the fighting this summer reached its pinnacle and from there, it never turned back.

I prayed that my parents would miraculously stop arguing and that I would make it through my junior year without any problems. But I knew that that wasn't going to be the case. The summer long argument had taken an ugly turn. What was the start of all their pettier arguments would ultimately bring their true argument to an end.

The start of all the arguments was my father's inability to remain faithful. Some years ago, he slept around with a woman and ended up getting her pregnant and having my half-brother. My mother was devastated, but they went to counseling and worked through it, or so I thought. For thirteen years, my mother kept it a secret from family, friends and neighbors. But with my father's recent increasing disappearances it wasn't a surprise that my mother's fear of an affair resurfaced. I watched her torture herself. A wine glass and cigarette in one hand with the wedding album in the other. It never failed that a few hours later she was passed out on the couch waiting up for my father.

I guess she herself finally realized the truth. My father wasn't going to change. She demanded a divorce and walked out of the door leaving my father and me behind. I guess all of the counseling that my father paid for really didn't work after all. He insisted that she didn't matter anymore. I wanted to prove him wrong but even I could never get back in touch with my mother. My father openly started taking care of his mistress and their child. He does all that he can for them and I suppose that's fair for everyone!

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><p>The buzzer sounded and I stared at the clock. 6:15 am. Sitting up, I felt the fatigue slowly dissipate, a yawn helping to shake the last of the drowsiness off. The warmth of the shower was refreshing as I mentally prepared myself for another day. I let the water run down my face as I contemplated my after school destination. Detention may have been worth the trouble so long as it meant I didn't have to come straight home. Baseball season wouldn't start back up for quite some time and my friend was always tutoring people after school so hanging out with her wasn't much of an option. Dressing, I grabbed my keys and book bag and left out of the house. My father's car was gone. He had already left for work or either he hadn't come back last night. Typical.<p>

The clock ticked against the white wall. The minutes drug and groans filled the air as pencils tapped against the wood. A blank sheet of paper lay in front of me, anticipating a meeting with lead that had nothing to say. It had become a consistent meeting between the two for the last two weeks after school. A failure to adhere to the dress code, speaking out, and a disinterest in what was being taught had landed me in this position over and over again. Quite frankly a tucked shirt wasn't so bad, I would have rather have been quiet. Ms. Kagawa's science lecture had been interesting but I needed an excuse.

The plan to stay away from destination home worked for a while. Things had been quiet which was the way I wanted it to be. I managed to stay out of my father's way and he stayed out of mine. It was merely by chance that we saw each other and even so, we never really spoke. My father didn't care where I was or what I did so long as I didn't cause him any trouble. So when I walked in that evening, I hadn't been expecting a confrontation. But there my father was, sitting in the living room, still in his business attire as if waiting on a meeting of some sort. Everything about the man spoke intimidation to those beneath him. It was how he became known as the CEO of Tokyo. Inutaisho Takahashi struck fear in all who heard the name.

"Sesshoumaru." The gesture of the two fingers was enough to make the skin crawl.

I took my seat across from my father, hoping to read something hopeful against his sinister scrutiny.

"I'm not happy." was all he spoke as he placed the letter on the coffee table.

I realized that it was a letter from the school concerning the severity of my violations.

"So this is where you've been?" His eyes kept their gaze on me as he downed the rest of the scotch.

"…"

"Don't think I haven't been paying attention. You're coming home at all hours of the night. It's a wonder you keep up with homework."

"How would you know? You're never here."

"That smart mouth of yours is going to get you in a lot more trouble than you're bargaining for. You come straight to my office from now on. I'll have something for you to do after school."

"What about practice…my friends?"

"Baseball is a few months off yet. Friends? What friends? You've never had any."

"Maybe I would if everyone didn't hate you."

"Is that so? Blame the old man for giving you a life that all of your little classmates can't stand. Tell me Sesshoumaru, do you hate me? Do you hate your old man?

"…no."

"Hn…you hesitated. But we both know life here can't be so bad. I've placed a roof over your head, provided you with any and everything you've always wanted, even bought the car that you so graciously use. You don't have the right to want anything more from me because then you would be the spoiled selfish brat that everyone else thinks you are. I wouldn't want that. My office. Tomorrow."

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><p><em>Let me know what you think about this! I must warn you that Sesshoumaru's situation is probably going to get a lot worse before it gets better!<em>

_LadyRin23_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Full Circle**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha_

Ch 2: Changes

Things started to change at this point. My teachers of course were happy at the return of my more pleasant behavior but I began to think that even they thought something was wrong. The time that I spent at my father's office after school could have been considered a slow death sentence. He was a demanding perfectionist. I started to believe that no CEO was complete without such a demeanor. So of course, the way I did things was never to his standard of liking. Even filing papers was a ridiculous endeavor. According to my father, I was learning the definition of hard work. By the time I got home in the evenings, I was exhausted and still had to do homework. I was learning the definition of hard work yet I wasn't even getting paid for it and I was unable to do my own. I couldn't count the amount of times I fell asleep. Not only had the trace of a social life that I had disappeared but so had good grades. I was better off in detention everyday.

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><p>I assumed that things couldn't get any worse than they had gotten, but my assumption was incorrect. Lack of sleep and the time around my father only left me angrier and more frustrated each day. It wasn't long before this presented itself in the classroom. What I had been intentionally doing at the beginning of the semester had become unintentional less than half-way through. Fatigue left me too tired to pay attention or too frustrated to understand. Either case led to doing something unconstructive like sleeping or listening to music during class. Every single offense threatened to put me back in detention, which would have been fine if my father wouldn't find out by some miracle.<p>

It wasn't more than a week before I took things too far in Ms. Kagawa's science lecture. She of course chose to ask me a question about the lecture, of which I had no idea what she was talking about since I had been asleep. I was angry that she was singling me out and before I could put my brain before my mouth I cursed her under my breath or at least I thought I had. The classroom went silent and everyone turned to stare at me as if I had lost my mind. Such a defining moment of junior year.

"Get out!"

I complied without another word, and heard her mumble something about the principal as I left. Detention would have been far too nice of a punishment. I spent my time in ISS for the rest of the day. To be honest, ISS was the best part of the day. I was in the clear. I would still get to my father's office without him finding out anything. That was until I was called back to Ms. Kagawa's class at the end of the day. There she was with the principal and my father, of all people. I wanted to turn around and walk back out of the classroom. I wasn't sure if my father had ever stepped foot into the building before and there his enormous presence was. I didn't realize it at first, but I was standing closer to the principal than I was my father.

Anytime my father's work was disrupted, it meant his money was disrupted, which left the man unhappy. The entire conversation became background noise in comparison to my father's body language and occasional glares. From time to time I would hear the mention of a bad grade or missed assignment but that wasn't what phased me.

The time between my father's instructions to go straight home and laying down to go to bed was a blur that seemed to happen in seconds rather than hours.

"Are you trying to embarrass me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You want to be a failure don't you? You want to prove to everyone that Inutaisho Takahashi has a screw up for a son. And if that's not what you're doing, then what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm doing everything you asked me to."

"This is not how I've raised you."

"You didn't raise me at all!"

I could tell that he lost his composure for a second but then regained it.

"Then who did?"

"My mother."

"And where is she now?"

"…I don't know."

"Exactly. If she'd done such a good job raising you, if she cared about you, she'd still be here."

I couldn't count how many times since my mother had been gone that I had been to blame. But I knew who was at fault and not for a second did I let myself be responsible for her exit.

"No. Maybe if you hadn't slept with that whore she'd still be here!" There was only a split second between wishing I could take back what I said and the consequence of it coming out.

What happened from there was at best surreal. The shatter of the mirror as I was forced against the wall was only the beginning of a long night. Being on bad terms with my father was one thing but what was happening now was insanity.

It wasn't until the morning that I looked at myself. What I saw was a product of money hunger, a lack of tolerance for failure, and the anger of a man who was in denial. I noticed that the front room was still in shambles from the night before and I did my best not to look at it again. Of all mornings, my father was present which made the situation even more awkward. I couldn't look him in the face and I felt almost as if I was maneuvering around fire. If he moved, I moved out of his way. I wondered if it was normal to be afraid of my own father.

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><p>So there's the second chapter! Let me know what you think!<p>

LadyRin23


	3. Chapter 3

Full Circle

No no I don't own Inuyasha!

Ch3: Vigilance

I entered the school feeling as if everyone knew what happened, when in fact, no one knew and maybe that was what was so unsettling. I sat through ISS again, hearing nothing past my father's voice from the night before. The struggle, replaying as if it had only happened a moment ago. The sound of glass shattering played like a broken record. I should have fought back. Or was I fighting yet losing at the same time? Surely this wasn't something that I would have to continue to worry about. It was only because of what I said. My actions had warranted such a consequence to be dealt in that manner. I kept telling myself that that was the truth. I kept telling myself that through the entire week that I had ISS because every night seemed to be relentless. I told myself that it would end when I stopped having to go to ISS and for a while, it did. It wasn't until I received a C on a test that I realized that it wasn't ending.

My own worries and pain kept me up at night. I figured that my father was smart about what he did since my face and arms seemed to always be left untouched which left nothing to be seen. My return to my schedule underneath my father left opportunity wide open to punish me for anything he saw fit, which became more and more frequent. The more that I fought back the more that it angered him and the worse it got. I wasn't sure what to do anymore and I didn't know how to get out when I had nowhere to go.

… …

I stood there at the board, trying to complete a chemistry equation. I could feel the eyes of the class at my back waiting for an answer as snickers began to fill the room. Once again I had been called out on my lack of attention to what was being taught. I felt relieved when I was finally excused from making a fool of myself. When the bell rang, I let off a sigh. Maybe today would be different. If I did everything exactly right, I would be ok.

"Sesshoumaru would you stay for a moment please?" Ms. Kagawa stopped me before I could leave. She was a stern yet fair teacher. Most of the students considered her one of the best. Unless you caused trouble, she was easy to talk to about anything. She didn't look to be past her late thirties even though she always wore her hair in a tight bun. The white blouse and black skirt were typical of her attire.

"What now?"

"Take a seat. How are you doing?"

"Fine…why?"

"This may not be my business, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but, how are things at home, between you and your father?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. What were the consequences of saying that things weren't going well? That I walked on pins and needles on a daily basis in an effort to keep from angering the man and avoiding his fists.

"They're ok." She had to have known it was lie. The expression on her face didn't change though.

"Alright. Well, do you remember the problem I had up on the board? I've noticed you solve ones like this before on homework, why do you think you couldn't solve it today?"

"I forgot."

"Do you think you remember it now?"

"Maybe."

"Try it."

As I got up, I took the marker in my hand. Why the conversation had suddenly switched to my ability or lack there of to complete a problem was baffling. I stood at the board once again. I worked through the problem with relative ease and came to my answer. When I looked at her, she nodded but almost seemed unhappy. She had picked up on something.

"Very well. Sesshoumaru…"

I didn't want to get into that conversation. But something kept my feet planted. Maybe it was my own conscience telling me that I needed help.

"…where did those marks come from? "

Again, I had done something wrong, or so that was what my father said. I tried to justify my reasoning for checking off the inventory the way that I had. Instead of going from left to right, I had gone straight down the sheet. I should've known better. He thought that I was purposefully trying to make him angry.

I thought up a quick lie, "…an accident. I've got to go or I'll be late for work."

I watched her nod and heard her words as I walked to the door.

"You have help here if you need it."

"I'm fine." The lie bore into the depths of my conscience and I knew it was a mistake not to admit the truth.

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><p>A break for my brain. Finally got the chance to update! Yay!<p>

Your reviews are much appreciated! Please and thank you :)

LadyRin23


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